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How to source a wine that is only (or mostly) distributed wholesale?

I was at HMB Ritz Carlton today. Was 70+ degrees, and a gorgeous sunset. While there, I had a very nice pinot.. 2009 Soliste Narcisse Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. When searching the internet on this wine, it seems like it is only distributed to restaurants/shops. What is the best way to get some of this? Go through my local wine shop? Thanks!

NG - in addition to signing up for some mailing list, you can ask if a local retailer can source the wine. People are presented thousands of wines a year and there's just so much space in a store and there are only so many wines at each price point that you want to carry. But if a customer requests something, it's not uncommon for a retailer to see if he/she could get some.

Secondly, there are a lot of wines that are only sold to restaurants - it's more "prestigious" and if the winery doesn't put out a lot of product, it's a way to keep a kind of cachet for the wine. But in some states, you can buy from the restaurants. It depends on whether they allow on-premise places to sell for off-premise consumption and like all the rest of the laws regarding wine, every place is different.

Finally, you might find an understanding restaurant owner who'll do you the favor regardless of the statutes. For highly allocated wines, that's not likely because having those wines on the list is part of the restaurant's reputation, but for things that aren't so allocated or sought-out world wide, it's another avenue.

HMB is an acronym for Half Moon Bay which is on the San Mateo County Coast due west of Redwood City and about half way between San Francisco and Pescadero. It's a small coastal agricultural community that hosts the Annual Pumpkin Festival as well as being a large fishing port.

Emark- HMB- sorry I get to typing away- is Half Moon Bay, CA and yes, I think Mrs. Emark would like this place very much:-)

GregT- That's kinda what I was thinking.. my local wine shop is pretty accommodating, and I may ask them about sourcing the wine. And I did consider buying a bottle from the restaurant- but being the Ritz Carlton, it was VERY pricey (for a CA pinot), and I suspect there was a lot of mark up built in, as is the case with most restaurants. I do have contact info for the winery, and will email them shortly.

We've been to Half Moon Bay, and, at least once, in early November, and have seen pickup trucks in hotel parking lots (predictably, not the Ritz-Carlton) with their beds filled with a single entry for the annual festival.

I'm usually pretty good with acronyms. In fact I came back to this conversation because I had, in fact, decoded HMB. Back in my previous life we were sure that the company used a Random Acronym Generator to create product names and for marketing programs.

When my now-wife and I were dating way back in the 20th century, she would get pretty frustrated while listening to me converse with colleagues. One day she announced that I should stop using AFWs. Well that stumped me.